In 1913, when it opened, Hotel Cotton was borderline swank. One of the first high-rises in Houston to be made from concrete and steel, its early ads touted "175 fireproof rooms." Sitting on the southern tip of downtown, the hotel's other selling point was a bathroom in every room. By the late 1960s, though, after the name changed to Montagu Hotel, things had started to shift. less

In 1913, when it opened, Hotel Cotton was borderline swank. One of the first high-rises in Houston to be made from concrete and steel, its early ads touted "175 fireproof rooms." Sitting on the southern tip of ... more

Photo: George Kalas

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George Kalas, a nephew of the owners, became general manager of Montagu Hotel in July 2005.

George Kalas, a nephew of the owners, became general manager of Montagu Hotel in July 2005.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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The exterior of Montagu Hotel would benefit from a thorough cleaning, says general manager George Kalas, whose renovations so far have focused on the hotel interior. Kalas may apply for a grant to improve the face of the building. A number of other historic buildings near the hotel have been renovated inside and out, including the Stowers building at 820 Fannin and the Club Quarters-Houston at 720 Fannin, formerly Texas State Hotel. less

The exterior of Montagu Hotel would benefit from a thorough cleaning, says general manager George Kalas, whose renovations so far have focused on the hotel interior. Kalas may apply for a grant to improve the ... more

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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Visitors are greeted by the hotel's original name on the front step.

Visitors are greeted by the hotel's original name on the front step.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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A sign next to a painting behind the Montagu's front desk advertises daily and weekly rates.

A sign next to a painting behind the Montagu's front desk advertises daily and weekly rates.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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OLD ROOM: A standard room at the hotel comes with a television. Rooms at this price have not been repainted and the carpets have not yet been replaced with tile. All rooms at the Montagu have private baths.

OLD ROOM: A standard room at the hotel comes with a television. Rooms at this price have not been repainted and the carpets have not yet been replaced with tile. All rooms at the Montagu have private baths.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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A major part of every Montagu Hotel room renovation includes replacing old carpets with tile.

A major part of every Montagu Hotel room renovation includes replacing old carpets with tile.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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New room: A newly renovated room ($42+tax) at the Montagu comes with tile floors, newly painted walls, a small refrigerator and a microwave oven. None of the rooms have telephones.

New room: A newly renovated room ($42+tax) at the Montagu comes with tile floors, newly painted walls, a small refrigerator and a microwave oven. None of the rooms have telephones.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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A renovated bathroom features a new pedestal sink and faucet, along with new ceramic tiles.

A renovated bathroom features a new pedestal sink and faucet, along with new ceramic tiles.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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Leo Klonis, a Montagu resident for 20 years, relaxes in the hotel lobby.

Leo Klonis, a Montagu resident for 20 years, relaxes in the hotel lobby.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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Leo Klonis holds a picture of his brother Evagelos, who participated in the D-Day invasion. The photo graces the cover of a Life book about World War II.

Leo Klonis holds a picture of his brother Evagelos, who participated in the D-Day invasion. The photo graces the cover of a Life book about World War II.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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A recent paint job highlights the elaborate moldings on the lobby ceiling of Montagu Hotel.

A recent paint job highlights the elaborate moldings on the lobby ceiling of Montagu Hotel.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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On a bureau at the foot of his bed, Leo Klonis has placed pictures of his mother and father next to miniature flags of Greece and the USA.

On a bureau at the foot of his bed, Leo Klonis has placed pictures of his mother and father next to miniature flags of Greece and the USA.

Photo: Steve Ueckert, Chronicle

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Bringing back the Montagu

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THE dark-brown sign above the lobby door, underlined by burned-out and dimly lit bulbs, reads Montagu Hotel.
Local historians know the building at Fannin and Rusk by its original name: Hotel Cotton.

But for Leo Klonis, who has lived on the ninth floor for 20 years, it's home.

Klonis, one of a handful of Montagu residents who pays by the month, has seen the hotel through some hard times. Through short-term guests who brought a stream of shady characters in and out. Through the vagrants and hardscrabble crowd that sometimes still gather on the corner outside. Through years when the rooms were left to slide into decline — as slim, amber cigarette burns, still visible on bureaus and bathtub ledges, will testify.

Yet for Klonis — whose tidy room is filled with pictures of his family and native Kefalonia, a Greek island — this is a side note to the happiness he's found in his hotel home.

"The rooms are clean, and the people here are nice," says the 75-year-old retiree. "And in the past year or so, a lot has changed."

Changes to the southwest corner of Fannin and Rusk might not be evident to passers-by. But for those who have ventured inside the Montagu over the past few decades, they're substantial.

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When George Kalas took over as general manager last July, the Montagu began a slow, low-profile renovation. With help from a few handymen, Kalas has been trying to alter the look and feel of the historical 1913 hotel his uncles Frank and Albert Kalas bought more than 30 years ago.

The lobby, whose ceilings are painted a deep terra cotta and moss green, got a new front desk and a face-lift on some of the walls. In renovated rooms on the 11th floor, smoke-saturated carpets have been replaced with tile. In March, Kalas installed a new air conditioning and heating system, his biggest purchase so far.

Yet it remains a place for the adventurous. Though Kalas hopes to fill the rooms with early 20th-century furniture, the current décor screams 1975. And for better or worse, the Montagu still smells like a place that has seen its fair share of living. A European backpacker, comfortable with the idiosyncrasies of youth hostels, might not blink at the accommodations. But an American professional expecting a Holiday Inn Express might.

Since the rehab started — and since he took the hotel online at www.montaguhotel.net — Kalas has seen an increase in out-of-town traffic. Most are Asians and Europeans, he says, who " appreciate the price."

His modest goal: bring the rooms to a Best Western level without borrowing money.

In a city whose historical hotels are either luxury or business class, Kalas' enterprise is an anomaly. Spire Realty Group, for example, sank more than $100,000 per room into the renovation of the Alden-Houston, a hotel at 1117 Prairie that is about the same age and size as the Montagu.

All the more reason not to shoot for the top, Kalas says.

"Downtown really has no middle-of-the-road hotels," says Kalas, who works behind the front desk and still checks people in with hand-written folios, though he vows a computerized system is imminent. "There's a niche to be filled in that midrange."

Bob Eury, executive director of the Downtown Houston Management District, agrees. "There's a need for that market downtown," Eury says. "In many ways the neighborhood is pointing in the right direction to make a turnaround."

Easier said than done. First, Kalas had to oust the crowd he suspected of illegal activity.

"It took three or four months to get those people, and vandalism, under control," he says.

The remaining occupants, long-termers like Klonis and Robert Huddleston, have been model tenants over the years. Kalas is on a first-name basis with all of them.

"Hey, Leo," he says, as Klonis exits the elevator and heads toward the front door on one of his daily walks. Klonis knows Kalas' uncles, who are also Greek.

Huddleston, who works as a night watchman around the corner, has lived at the Montagu on and off for 40 years. He still misses the Cock & Bull Cafe, a busy restaurant at Fannin and Rusk that closed in the 1970s. Living at the Montagu is easy, he says: "I mind my own business, and no one bothers me a bit."

But the long-termers know that Kalas is steering the place in a new direction, toward weekly or daily rentals.

Current room rates are enticing: $42 plus tax for a newly renovated room; $32 plus tax for a standard; $25 plus tax for economy. The $42 rooms have new tile floors, new door knobs, fresh paint, TVs and a small microwave and fridge.

It costs more to valet park in some hotels than it does to stay at the Montagu, says Brady Wilkins, of Spire Realty Group. Spire Realty, which owns a number of historical properties, gutted and renovated the Stowers building on Fannin, once a furniture company a few doors south of the Montagu.

Wilkins suspects that the Montagu would be best served by a similar overhaul.

"That thing probably needs a $100,000 per room renovation," Wilkins says. "We know better than anybody that a lot of times older buildings aren't worth salvaging. You end up with lipstick on a pig because you've gotten a building that's obsolete. The floor sizes could be too small to reconfigure into rooms."

But Kalas' uncles are adamant about not spending money they don't have. And Kalas and his project have found an ally in the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance, which doesn't want a historical building to fall under a wrecking ball.

"Look at the niche he's going for," says David Bush, Alliance spokesman. "Backpackers and Europeans. It's great. Honestly, the budget historic hotel thing is not real common in the U.S. The fact that he's doing this with the hotel's own money and that he really has an appreciation for the history of the building, is terrific. He gets it."

Kalas' efforts will improve an area that has already seen some historical redevelopment, Bush adds.

In addition to the Stowers building, the newly renovated Texas State Hotel on the northwest corner of Fannin and Rusk now operates as Club Quarters-Houston, an extended stay hotel. There's also buzz about redeveloping the old Texaco headquarters, on the northeast side of that corner.

Still, no one thinks Kalas' job will be easy.

"The issue for him now is how you gently take a property that probably needs a good infusion of capital and make a change," Eury says. "I think it's doable, but it's a tough thing to do."

Today, the Montagu Hotel lacks room service, in-house dining and in-room telephones for guests. Three additional properties owned by the Kalas family — restaurant space to the south on Fannin and a ground-level and basement space on the Fannin/Rusk corner — sit vacant.

But a welcoming seating area just inside the Montagu's front door, lit by wagon wheel-shaped chandeliers inherited from a nearby restaurant, draws old and new guests. Kalas envisions a wall of historical pictures, tracing the hotel's 93-year history. He's considering applying for a grant to deep-clean the outside of the building. A Subway restaurant has also expressed an interest in leasing the corner ground-floor space.

And then there's the matter of the long-termers.

Recently, several of his Kalas' monthly residents have transitioned into nursing homes. But Kalas wants to rent to Klonis, Huddleston and the others until they no longer need the rooms.

For Klonis, fit and trim with a neatly clipped mustache, the Montagu will likely be home for a great while longer. Homey curtains, plant-filled windows and a full-size fridge anchor his modest room. Pictures of his mother and father sit on a bureau, near a photograph of his brother, Evagelos, who stormed the beaches of Normandy with the U.S. Army on D-Day.

Above the bed hangs a picture of Klonis in a suit and tie, taken just after he became an American citizen in the late 1950s. Fiercely proud of his American citizenship, Klonis hopes to remain in the place he's called home for 20 years. And he wants the same for the other long-term residents.

"We are quite a few old people here," Klonis says. "Some like to get out and walk. Some like to stay in their rooms."